Orkney Starts Moving Toward a Hydrogen-Based Energy System Using the Wind and Oceans

The Scottish archipelago Orkney is taking steps to adopt a hydrogen-based energy system that feeds off excess tidal generation from the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC).

The tidal and wave energy test station is due to install a 500-kilowatt ITM Power polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzer, with integrated compression and up to 500 kilos of storage, in the first quarter of 2017, said Lisa MacKenzie, marketing and communications officer.

The £1.79 million (USD $2.77 million) electrolyzer, with a generation capacity of 220 kilos of hydrogen per day, will also mop up excess power from a community wind turbine owned by local renewable energy developer Eday Renewable Energy.

Later in the first half of the year, EMEC, which is located on the island of Eday in Orkney’s North Isles, will install a 75-kilowatt fuel cell from an unspecified vendor at the pier at Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney, on the island of Mainland.